German Coalition Agreement: No new beginning, no dynamism, no cohesion, just the same old mercantilism
The Grand Coalition Agreement between Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian partner Christian Social Union (CSU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) is impressive alone due to its enormous volume. …

Germany’s metal workers’ union: Making a success out of failure
By Heiner Flassbeck and Michael Paetz (1)
Germany’s metal and engineering union, IG Metall, claimed to have scored a major success last week. A 4.3 percent pay rise sounds good if you demanded 6 percent with a lot of ballyhoo. …

No further proof is required any longer: the trade unions do not understand the reason why it is necessary to raise wages. If they would, they would not fall and spread baseless neoclassical claims.
Unfortunately, I must once again sharpen my polemic of last week’s ‘survival’ of workers (see here): today, …

Whoever allows workers to “just about manage” seems to be considered socially progressive these days. Neo-liberalism succeeds time and again in shifting standards to such an extent that we completely lose our perspective and sense of fairness.
Paradoxically, to see this better, …